This quickie episode was recorded live at my podcast launch pajama party on May 21st, 2017, at Hacienda Studio, a sex-positive event space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. My guests enjoyed reiki, massage, empathy sessions, and cookies upon arrival. After a brief cuddling tutorial from one of my housemates, a professional Cuddler, Fifty people in kimonos, flannels, onesies, and short-shorts got horizontal and snuggly on an enormous Megabed the size of three kings put together, while, on a bed-island across the room, my guest and I arranged ourselves as we would for any horizontal recording session - lying on our backs, almost ear-to-ear, sharing a pillow, microphones hanging down above us, with a starry blanket as our backdrop…

In this, the first of many quickies to come, I lie down with Ralph de la Rosa. 

Ralph is a highly regarded meditation teacher in New York City. His Rebel Heart Meditation, a weekly class combining meditation, psychology, and neuroscience, was the first - and is still the only - meditation class I’ve ever attended regularly. He’s a punk at heart, a feminist, an anarchist, a raw, utterly honest and relatable teacher, a truthful writer, and his forthcoming book about working with trauma in meditation will be published by Shambhala Publications in 2018. I will be the first to buy it carry it around with me like a talisman.

Full disclosure: Ralph and I first met through on-line dating, went on one date, didn’t talk for six months, meditated alongside each other for three, and then became very dear friends. Ralph is also my birthday twin. Last year we celebrated on a weekend retreat with close friends that I dubbed “the option to fall apart edition.” I think Ralph fell together, while I fell apart, and it worked out beautifully for the both of us.

To keep apprised of his offerings in cognitive behavior therapy, coaching, and meditation, visit ralphdelarosa.com.

In the span of this 20-minute quickie, Ralph manages to share a history of sexual repression, broaching his first sex ed talk, first porn, first time, the celibacy practices of the Hare Krishna, and spiritual sex.

Won't you please ... come lie down with us?

More horizontality, please:

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Credit where credit is: 

Horizontal’s badass theme music was created by Alan Markley, on Instagram as @plasticcannons.

It’s saucy cover art was designed and illustrated by Shana Shay. Hire Shana for character illustration and graphic design through 99designs.

Horizontal was mixed and mastered by Owen Muir of Self-Disclosure productions, right here in Brooklyn, New York. Stay tuned in August 2017 for Owen’s own podcast, Self-Disclosure, a show where people talk openly for the first time about their own experiences with mental health. You can find Owen on Twitter at @psychdisclosure

To sign up for the horizontal show notes, exclusive subscriber content, and sensual horizontal photos, head to horizontalwithlila.com